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Volunteer with ATRAVES: Work Across Borders

About ATRAVES

ATRAVES is an international non-profit that builds connections among communities, organizations and people in Nicaragua and internationally to support development, health and educational efforts in Nicaragua. ATRAVES was founded in 2004 by Nicaraguan educators, community workers and one U.S. volunteer. Since then, ATRAVES has grown into a strong organization that is becoming an increasingly effective instrument in the success of the communities it serves.

ATRAVES mobilizes human, financial and material resources to support education, health and development programs in Nicaragua. ATRAVES does so specifically by:

Linking these initiatives to resources that communities cannot otherwise access;

Placing, coordinating and educating international volunteers and delegations;

Creating and maintaining an international network of people in solidarity with Nicaragua and its poor communities; and

Mobilizing our network to become a powerful support system.

ATRAVES has shown that this model is highly effective in Nicaragua. ATRAVES currently works with communities across the Pacific side of the country.

ATRAVES Mission

The mission of ATRAVES is to support a community of small Nicaraguan organizations that are carrying out creative, locally autonomous approaches to development, education, health and justice.

ATRAVES Programs

ATRAVES programs are organized around four interconnected themes: Education, Health, Community Development and the International Volunteer Program. They regard these areas as mutually overlapping; their approach to health, for example, involves elements of development, education and volunteerism. The common thread is that ATRAVES makes itself a powerful tool in the success of Nicaraguan community efforts to empower themselves and improve their lives. They achieve this outcome through establishing international, domestic, and community solidarity, and using it to bring concrete resources to bear on problems. "Work across borders" means that ATRAVES programs build links among people working together from many different places, languages and backgrounds in a way that they have shown to be effective.

ATRAVES Individual Volunteers

ATRAVES engages in difficult work that requires creative, curious and hard-working people willing to learn from their hosts and adapt their work and thinking to the realities of the communities they partner with. They need people who value the knowledge and perspectives of others. They seek people from a wide range of skill area and level. What counts is your ability to use the skills you have and your willingness to engage with the community where you work and learn as you go.

ATRAVES does not require Spanish proficiency for all placements, but they do require a willingness to learn the language.